Saturday, 19 March 2011

You: "What a lovely weather"
A Finn: "Yes."
You: "Has it been this sunny all the time?"
A Finn: "No."
You: "You must be freezing when the sun doesn't shine"
A Finn: "No."
You: "Well, have a nice day then!"
A Finn: "(nothing)"

As I have mentioned we Finnish people don't like to talk much with strangers. We don't just find it necessarily to tell our opinions to someone who we don't know. And talking for nothing isn't useful, so we don't do small talk. And many people find it very uncomfortable and get pressured, you kind of break their own space by talking to them, so you need to be careful because as I said we Finnish people are sensitive!

But there are ways how you can make A Finn talk to you.

1. Don't be too aggressive

Not like this: "HI WHO ARE YOU I AM JOSH OH YOU ARE FROM FINLAND I KNOW WHERES FINLAND IT'S NORTHERN EUROPE DO YOU COME HERE OFTEN THE WEATHER IS NICE. UU WHAT ARE YOU EATING CAN I TASTE".

Like this: "Uu, you have nice shoes! They must not be from Finland?" -> Because the question is about the person in a positive way it will be nice way to start the conversation. Also it has question which the person have to answer more than with a one word (like: "Yes, these are from Finland, from Nilsson" or "Yes, these aren't from Finland, these are from Italy, Milan!". After this it's easy to start continuing the conversation.

Of course this example was more about talking to female, but same works for men. But you can say something like "Wow, you have a nice haircut. Where did you get it?"

This issue was about having a small talk with a Finn, like if you are in a elevator at the same time together. I wrote similar issue about how to make friends with a Finn. You can see it HERE.

Architecture in Helsinki is an Australian band, but somewhere they have got their name from. Helsinki has survived quite good from the wars as most of the wars were based in Eastern Finland and Lapland. Of course Helsinki got it's share too on the bombings, but mostly the houses are so well built that they stand like a stone. And we didn't get as hard bombings as in Hiroshima...

It's very good our capital survived so well, because older houses in central Helsinki are very beautifully made. The have small details and therefore I recommend you to look in the buildings sharply. Also if you have possibility sneak in from the houses gates to see the courtyard, it's worth to do. Usually the atmosphere there is different than in the streets.

One thing to see is also houses stairways. This area is pretty difficult to get in because you need a key to get in, but if someone let's you in then you'll get to see. If the door is open (like someone is moving or something) I recommend you to sneak in straight away! Just look like you are going home. People might get suspicious if you ask them to open the door for stairway and they will think you are going to rob them. Especially if you speak English people are very aware. This is Finland, I'm sorry.

So why to stairways? Because they have very nice paintings and lightning there is interesting too. And the higher you go, you get to see surrounding houses from another view.

Good places to see old houses are in downtown Helsinki are e.g Kruunuhaka, Ullanlinna and Eira.
And uptown Helsinki Kallio.

I want to give you an idea how apartments in Helsinki look like. My apartment's size is 30,5 m2 and located in uptown, Kallio. I live alone and my rent is 640€/month. On top of that I pay for electricity 45-50 € every 2 months. So living in uptown is not very cheap either, especially for singles.

This is my apartment how it usually looks like. I didn't tidy it up to show how I really live. My house was built in 1912, so it's very old just like other buildings in this area. You'd think old apartments are cold, but in Finland we have double windows, so it doesn't get cold inside. Also I pay that 50 € to get proper heat! My bathroom has also heated floor, which is super nice (and makes the electricity bill grow)!

This is my entrance. That suitcase has been there for 3 weeks now. I never bother to do anything to it. Also my posts just collect in front of my door and once a month I bother to collect them and take to the trash. I'm slightly lazy about that, I know. I just leave my home always in so hurry that I never have time to go to the trash, heh.

This is my living room/where I sleep. I have also bunk bed, but I quit using it after I always had to struggle climbing up there when I was drunk. And I was drunk quite often before.

And here's where you arrive to my apartment (where the picture before this was taken). There's also my tiny bathroom in that corridor. There you can also see my super messy working table, which is more like place where I always throw everything important. This way they are at least in one place... Also I have pictures of Tokyo there to cheer me up.

I want to keep the colors clean and bright, because that wood is so dominant and strong. Now I have my "Sakura" (cherry blossom) blanket covers in my bed, so I don't use cover blanket. But if I use it, it's bright pink. I wanted to fill that wall with lot's of pictures from Tokyo, but...maybe in the future then..

This is my kitchen. The space was distant and cold, so I wanted to balance it with colors and kitsch kind of atmosphere. And yes, I always keep my garbage bag there. It annoys me and I don't know why I started to keep it there, maybe because it's handy, but not nice at all.

My fridge is very old and I hate it because it's not nature friendly at all.

And this is my little secret that is hidden behind my sofa. My clothes are always just a huge bundle... Also I have extra heather there, which I was using last summer because my apartment was colder than outside was!!

So, this was my apartment! Later on I will make issues of my friends apartments, if they let me to do it...

Many countries have cockroach problem. We don't have cockroaches in Finland. Or it's super rare to see one. I remember walking in Sydney's Kings Cross and the streets were covered with cockroaches. Disgusting.

Helsinki starts sounding like Teletabby-land when I tell this: we have rabbits everywhere. People say the rabbits are problem, because they eat everything like a huge pacman. And it's difficult to fight against them, because rabbits .. well, you know the saying when someone is very active sexually... Yeah. Rabbits are similar problem here as the possums in New Zealand.

In central Helsinki you might not be able to see any, but if you walk to Töölönlahti (park next to Finlandia house) there are so many bunnies especially during the night time and early in the morning. You are able to see them in the daytime too, but bunnies are shy, so find a quiet spot. Also I live in Kallio and am watching bunnies running all the time from my window, and this area is well inhabited.

During the summer these bunnies have babies, which are amazingly cute!

Eating city bunnies?

They tried to make food business out of it, but then they realized these bunnies are eating polluted grass.

Aki and Mika Kaurismäki brothers are the best movie directors coming from Finland. They both have kind of a rougher style to do movies: they don't follow the "Hollywood rules". The stories are going further with a lower tempo and visually the picture can be granular. And this all works so well, these movies aren't feeling that distant for you, sometimes you can almost touch the thoughts of the character - be part of the story. They are filming real life but making it as a movie. Mika says in one interview that he isn't a movie maker, he is anthropology.

Mika has been doing movies and documentaries. His first movie was music documentary made together with Aki and it was called "Saimaa ilmiö" (= Saimaa phenomenon). It's about Finnish musician/bands such as Hassisen kone, Eppu Normaali and Juice Leskinen. They travel though Saimaa and play gigs. This is totally worth to see as a movie too, because it tells a story about young Finnish musicians who became later very famous.

Mika and Aki might sound their style is very similar, but when you watch their movies you'll understand that they both have their own style.

Inspiration

From Mikas movies you can see where inspiration comes from: nature, depression, working class, the seasons. So his works represent usually Finland in it's every appearance. Though there are documentaries, such as Mama Africa which isn't filmed in Finland and doesn't have much to do with our culture. Maybe Mika opened a new page in his directors career.

Also his movies have been awarded in Finland (e.g "Zombie ja kummitusjuna" - Zombie and the ghost train). Mika's works are also internationally noticed and showed in several film festivals, the last one was "Mama Africa" (2011) in Berlin Film Festival.

2011

Mika's latest movie is called "Veljekset" (=Brothers). It's been filmed without a script. Yes, without a script! All the actors are improvising the whole story. This is definitely a must see movie/documentary. What makes it work, is probably the thing that all the actors are very good on what they do.

Elsewhere?

If you want to the atmosphere of the Kaurismäki brothers, I recommend you to go to Corona bar and Dubrovnik lounge. Corona is a bar as you can guess, but Dubrovnik is a movie theater and club space where bands play gigs! Dubrovnik is located under Corona, so you have to go in Corona to go to Dubrovnik.

If you have any kind of opportunity to take any other flight company, I honestly honestly recommend that. Ok, if the other options are Iberia or Aeroflot - then I recommend Finnair.

From the airport to the city

How do I get?

There's expensive Finnair bus, which costs around 8€ and takes about 30minutes to the central. Then there's cheaper version, the local bus which costs 4€. It's the bus number 615/615T. This is the one you should take.

Where does it depart?

At the airport Terminal 1 stop no. 2
(From the city central stop number 5)

Schedule

615 runs around 4 times per hour and takes about 35-40 min to the central. The first bus departs from the city central at 4.45 am, meaning it departs from airport at 5.35 am. They run until 10.50 pm from the airport and depart the city until 1.20 am. Weekends schedules are different.

You can purchase your ticket from ticket automatic that is located at the bus stop, or you can buy it from the driver. Many times I have been witnessing tourist trying to pay with 50€ to the driver and the driver has got angry and started to yell "make it smaller somewhere, I don't accept so huge money!". Honestly, the drivers are getting angry. Though some of the drivers let you in for free if you try with bigger money, so here's a little hint for you...

I am a student, is there student discount?

One problem: If you are not studying in FInland, you won't get the discount ticket. So for this theres a trick too:if you have student friend in Finland who doesn't use his/hers HSL IC-card, I recommend you to borrow your friends card. These IC cards are personal, but it doesn't have picture in it. Though it has name in it, so if you are a guy and your friend is female..well..you do the math. Student discount is -50% from normal tickets.

When I wasn't student and my sister was, I was using my sisters IC-card. Hahaa.

Kossu is the leader strong alcohol in Finland. It's kind of a vodka made from barley. It's alcohol % is 38.

As bottles there are the kind of "international" edition and then there's Finnish edition. I wonder why they had to do this new edition, the old bottle is much better because it represents Kossu the best: the bottle is ugly and simple and it means that this alcohol is just meant to get drunk, not for any amazing taste experience. People don't respect Kossu much, it is kind of alcohol which makes everyone laugh: "Ah, Kossu HAHAHAH".

Drinks from Kossu

Kossu has made different tastes, to name few blueberry, vanilla and lime. And yes, they are decent ones if you are making drinks. One time blueberry shot was popular. It includes blueberry liquor (2cl), buleberry soup (2cl) and on top of that cream. Instead of blueberry liquor people started using blueberry Kossu. It made slightly better and stronger from that shot which has anyway 2 cl of alcohol (only 2c meaning it's like drinking juice!).. Drinking blueberry shots is not trendy.

From the original Kossu you can do what ever you want: shots and drinks. Kossu can be added into beer too, it makes beer stronger and gives a smooth alcohol taste in it. I recommend you to ad only 2 cl Kossu. 4 cl tastes through too strong. But the best way is to drink 4 cl of room warm Kossu as a shot. Ah, tastes so disgusting!

Salty licorice shot

You can buy this ready mixture from Kossu. It's very good souvenir from Finland. Usually no-one who has never tasted it before likes it, but it makes very funny faces when someone who has never tastes it tastes it.

Kossu in 2000's

Probably Kossu has been trying to focus on international markets by getting Finnish graphic designer, Klaus Haapaniemi, to design a bottle cover for them. But I still think Kossu should market its self as the cheap and crappy alcohol that Finnish people just drink to get drunk. I think this story is much better than trying to look amazing and visually good. Because the taste will ruin the look anyway.

First a little introduce to Klaus Haapaniemi. He is a Finnish graphic designer based now in London. He has designed prints for different companies such as Iittala, Diesel, Levi's, Marimekko... Also he has illustrated books. There are numerous things Haapaniemi has done, and it's not surprising because this man has just so great imagination that he has deserved his place as one of the greatest Finnish designers!

Don't like so colorful? This one is more down to the Earth.
(pic from here)

Haapaniemi's style goes well with modern design, but also it can be mixed with traditional old style. It's just how he has been using the colors. Some of them have bright colors, but in some the colors aren't that surreal. There is something for everyone.

At the same time Haapaniemi mixes Finnish nature in his designs: you can see very typical Finnish elements with a vibe of Haapaniemi's style, like in the picture of pike on left side. Pike is very usual fish to be caught from our lakes. Other used animals are deers, owls, bunnies... Very typical animals from Finlands nature. Trees, such as birches, are used too. And Finland is known for it's birches, because we invented teeth friendly xylitol which comes from birch!

Also Haapaniemi has meaning in Finnish: it means aspen headland. We have lot's of aspens in Finland too. So I think in some of the pictures the leafs are aspen leafs. Nomen est omen.

In Finland almost every household has something from Marimekko. They have invented so wide range of different stuff, that it's impossible not to have any of Marimekko's design.

One year Marimekko released clothes which included fur and some of the people went insane. Marimekko's designers get their inspirations mostly from the nature. Older Marimekko's designs are super hippy-ish with all those trippy shapes and colors. Then suddenly there's mink included in these designings. I don't know if they wanted to get rid of the hippy image and show that they can do other stuff too for the snob Finns by including mink. But it seems like these snob Finns even like Marimekko as a hippy-ish brand.

Well, glad there hasn't been mink in Marimekko's designs since then and I hope they keep inspirations coming from the nature - not from animals that have been farmed un-ethically. When I watch Marimekko's designs they make me cheer up and happy. And inspired! So my advice for you is to visit the Design museum in Helsinki because there's going Marimekko exhibition at the moment!

Thursday, 17 March 2011

I was spending my time on Facebook and came across with an advertisement advertising a kind of a credit card that has pay free 12 months. EEE?

Then I clicked it, because it sounded too good to be true. And the first thing I saw was "Vote for the True Finns". Ah, I see. This dude, Juhani Mönkkönen, is advertising himself as a fighter against peoples (meaning Finnish citizens) tax money used to "wrong" things, such as helping immigrants. Doesn't he sound like his joking? This must be a joke. Someone really thinks that our taxes are going for wrong use when they are used to help immigrants...

Then I went to this dudes real web page and I started to understand: he wasn't joking! He was for real. Wait a second, Juhani Mönkkönen is advertising himself as "I'm married with an immigrant". So? What's the point? Is Mönkkönen trying to say that he has a good reason to be against immigrants because he is married with one already?

Hey Mönkkönen, if your wife isn't good enough don't turn against all the immigrants!

I want to borrow some of Mönkkönens writings:

Mönkkönen isn't the sharpest person I know..

"Finland is paying flight tickets for Somalians to fly to Finland. At the same time Finnish citizens have to pay their own evacuate in Egypt. Why?"

My opinion: HAH HA HAHAHA WHAT A JERK!

1. Finnish people flew to Egypt, because they have money to travel -> they have travel company which should be the getting their customers back to Finland -> they have travel insurance -> If the situation gets too dangerous the government always comes to help. But the situation wasn't that bad.

2. There's a real war in Somalia. There isn't enough food for people. People are actually dying there because there isn't enough doctors. People are suffering from loss of different vitamins and this causes problems in their bodies.

Also, I want to write a couple of examples where my tax money has been used:

Design blankets for politicians (they all cost total 50 000€)

For the leader parties: The National Coalition Party gets the most money from the state, smaller ones like the Green party get's much more less money. And I didn't even vote for the NCP and now I have to pay their flights to Hell and back?

Golf yard in Masku (thank you Suvi Linden (The NCP))

For the wine cellar they have in the bottom floor of the Government house. And what made me even more angry was that they have pretty bad quality wines there, but not the cheapest one. And sure not Fair Trade.

There are many swine holes where tax money go, using tax money for immigrants is much more less than how our politicians use our money for driving private taxis around the town alone all the time. Just because their work - meaning Finnish citizens - pay.

The sad news is, that True Finns are second popular party in Finland. This doesn't look good at all.

BTW:

Mönkkönen has done a picture of himself by copying picture of Barak Obama.

As I told, Finnish people are getting more social and happy when the spring reaches our beautiful country. This happiness brings also some awkward situations between female and men. I'm not even going to generalize here, because I'm happy that all the men aren't like this, but what I have experienced almost every year during the spring time has made me realize that humans really are animals.

This year it all started this week. See, when it's dark and cold, no one gives you any attention in the street. Everybody walks their head focused on the ground and no one bothers you. But when the sun is shining and you are wearing something lighter - let's say not so thick stockings - don't get surprised if some guys are staring at you with a wink in their eye or press beep when their driving past you. Or what happened to me this monday, someone whispered something into my ear! How disgusting! My eyes went just round and I wanted to hit that guy, but at the same time I couldn't make it clear what did he say. But I can bet that it was something sexual.

You know, I wasn't dressed up like a prostitute. I was wearing normal clothes, though less clothes than during the winter. And what makes this situation so awkward, because it all just comes round the corner! First people ignore you one suddenly they are whispering nasty things to your ear.

Beginning of spring is not the prettiest time to travel here as the snow is melting and everywhere is full of ponds. This dirt destroys your shoes, because they use mixture of salt and small stones in the winter time for not being slippery. As the snow melts, salt melts with it and your beautiful black shoes get white marks. Ruined.

But, if you aren't as materialistic as I am, there's also something more valuable happening: people are getting happier and more positive! So actually beginning of spring you will see lot's of happy Finnish people! isn't it amazing! Imagine: A HAPPY FINN! I think this time people are more smiling than in the summertime. Spring means that you have survived the dark winter again and there's life after all!

Also there are some activities happening through spring:

Vappu - May Day

When?
30.4.-1.5.2011

I wrote something about this celebration day in Low Budged Day in Helsinki.
If you want to see Finnish people getting absolutely idiots, this day is worth to see! The whole city is like a huge wild-life zoo!

Well, in Finland we have these daily newspapers which are just so trashy that I don't know how they manage to make money. We have better newspaper, which is called Helsingin Sanomat. I know media is stealing stuff, but a good journalist doesn't steal stuff, he invents himself and does good journalistic work. This is owned for you, Panu Karhunen! AMATEUR!

If someone walks pass you and drops something, or has something like scarf hanging in the dirt, but she/him is not knowing it, what do you do? You say "excuse me (darling*), you dropped your gloves!/ your scarf is hanging in the dirt." Probably you'll even lift it up and clean it.

You might not even think about this, because it comes from you automatically, but in Finland..hmm, well.. You know we are shy, our shyness shows up as ignorance often in these situations.

Sure there are people who inform you if you drop something, but don't expect it. Actually if you have dropped something and no one informed you, it wont be surprising if someone saw you dropping your thing but didn't bother to tell you about it.

In Finland if we drop something, we straight away think that "oh no, why did I drop it, I was so stupid not taking care of it", so what I mean we always think it was our fault and we are stupid. This boosts our shyness and unconfident behavior. But what can we do, it's part of our mentality, this is again one thing that makes us Finnish!

(* = with my experience people use this in NZ, Australia and England.)

Tuesday, 15 March 2011

If you answered "no", I'm happy for you. If you answered "yes", I shame on you.

Here are some tips how you will reach your target.

1st: You won't reach your target, so give up.

2nd: How to (try to) meet a Finnish guy

I'm sorry, but there are about three places to meet a Finnish guy. If you try to meet a Finnish guy in some other place, it will be a miracle if you succeed. So, good places are your work place, at school or in a bar. Oh, and Internet but it doesn't count. If you meet someone at your work and fell slightly in love with him, everything will be ruined after you have some party at your work and you end up at his place. If you meet someone at your school, well I know many stories that have ended up quite nice, but usually they end up after you graduate and want different things from your life. If you meet someone at a bar, well, some stories end up nice but most of them are one night stand or one months story.

3rd: How to make it work with a Finnish guy?

I'm sorry, but it's not up to you. You are not able to control it at all. The most difficult guys are at the age of 25-30. These dudes have lived already a long and serious relationship (usually with the girl they met at their school or their one night stand bar story ended up being 3 years stand). After they broke up they become scared of having a new relationship. I don't know why this happens, but they probably get scared of growing up and making a family? They want to be teenagers for ever! So, if you are ok with just having a physical relationship with someone, then you'll be ok, but don't ever think the guy is in love with you while you have that physical stuff going on. He is actually deeply afraid of you - that you'd say "are we having a relationship". Don't ever say that to a Finnish guy.

4th: What's the trick?

I'm sorry, but there aren't any tricks. Or I haven't figured out them yet. One thing that might help is to be PATIENT. Yes, Finnish guys want patience, because they are afraid of having a relationship. So the best way is just to stay distant and maybe have something physical going on, but never ever expect that it will turn ok when you want. It's (unfortunately) up to the Finnish guys. Sad part is, that usually Finnish guys understand too late that they like you. And what I mean too late is like 1-2 years after you are not even interested of him anymore.

Can you be so patient or should you just choose a Swedish guy? Yeah, take that Swede.

In Finland everyone can go and buy iodine tablets from the pharmacy. And guess what happened? After the crisis in Japan (some of the) Finnish people decided to save at least their life: they ran to pharmacies and bough those tablets. Already on sunday some pharmacies announced that they don't have any iodine tablets left!

We are in a great danger in Finland.

In Japan iodine tablets are not available from pharmacies just like that. But glad that in Finland we are safe!

I'm going to start a medicine company. Imagine how much money medicine companies got after H1N1 and H5N1?

I reckon those Finns who bought all the iodine tablets should pack them and send to Japan. Seriously, our asses are not in a danger. We should just focus on eating our mental sickness medicines.

Sunday, 13 March 2011

Ok, I made those t-shirts and it has question owned to certain person. People outside Finland don't know what or who is this dude, Mr. Katainen. He is Jyrki Katainen (also known as Jykä or Jytsky or Jyssykkä or Jysmy. If you go to sauna wit him, then you should use these names to him) is the chairman of the National Coalition Party (later mentioned as NCP). As I told, the NCP is extremely powerful party in Finland, they have the most politicians sitting in the parliament - total 51 ppl! Social democrats have 45 and Centre party 50*. (*=based on Wikipedia, one page say they have 51 ppl too)

Back to the topic which is Jyrki Katainen. He is very funny man. Before he was this shy and geeky guy - but suddenly something happened! I honestly don't know what, but seems like someone got a bit more self-confident. I also don't know did he go to some how-to-be-more-confident-course or did he start using cocaine. Or maybe.....he understood that you make shit loads of money just by being more confident. Money makes people change, as we know. And the NCP is the money lovers party.

Latest funny thing Katainen said, was that Social Democrats are yelling from bushes. He said this after the nuclear danger in Japan started big discussions here about those two nuclear factories they decided to build in Finland. Of course those politicians who voted for "NO" are taking the situation in Japan as an example, because it seems like those other politicians who voted for "YES" have forgotten Tchernobyl disaster.

Jyrki Katainen before and after he started banging money. I think he looks like hipster in the upper one. Those glasses and hair are IN at the moment..

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm sorry Jytsky, but you are not my type of guy. I don't like flirty guys. I like real guys. I'm voting for the GREENS.